An Albuquerque, New Mexico, bus driver is facing a lawsuit for distracted driving after a bus he was piloting slammed into a line of cars in July 2014.
Now, newly-revealed footage from inside the bus shows why exactly he was distracted: he was eating a burrito with both hands moments before the crash.
Albuquerque city bus driver Jeremy Perea was driving northbound on San Mateo Boulevard when his bus slammed into a line of cars stopped just south of Central Avenue.
A total of three drivers were involved in the collision besides Perea, two of whom filed personal injury lawsuits against the city alleging Perea had been distracted moments before the collision.
However, none of them had seen the footage from inside the bus until local Albuquerque news station KOB-4 News obtained the video through a public records request.
“This is definitely a distracted driver,” attorney Rachel Berenson, representing one of the drivers in their suit against the city, told KOB-4.
“This is someone who is not paying attention to the road.”
Raw video: Bus driver distracted while eating a burrito slams into line of cars
While a spokesperson for Albuquerque’s transit department admits that “eating or drinking while operating a city motor vehicle is against standard operating procedure,” they believe the infraction was not enough to cost Perea his job.
According to them, Perea was reprimanded for his actions and forced to undergo driver retraining. They say he is driving a different route today.
Hopefully, he’ll leave the snacking to moments when the bus is stopped.
WATCH: Unbuckled bus driver falls out of seat, crashes bus in dramatic video
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